


Christmas

by Mistevieous



Category: Red vs. Blue
Genre: Christmas, Secret Santa
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-24
Updated: 2018-12-24
Packaged: 2019-09-26 08:13:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,449
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17138171
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mistevieous/pseuds/Mistevieous
Summary: Secret Santa gift for Stickynotedoodler on Tumblr, Grif and Sister as kiddos





	Christmas

“But wait! Dex!” Kai yelled out, little bare feet padding across the floor as she ran to block the door.

“C’mon Kai, we gotta put it in the mailbox before it’s dark.” He’d already sat through her writing the misspelled letter to Santa, he just wanted to get it done with.

“But Dex! It wont mail without a stamp!” She begged, big brown eyes full of pleading.

Sighing, he thought it over for a second before nodding and handing the envelope to her. They didn’t have stamps, but he couldn’t reason that to her. She was old enough to know about stamps and all that, but still young enough to believe in Santa. And at the right age to put up a fight if they didn’t put a “stamp” on the stupid thing.

“Alright, draw one on.” He gave a smile, watching as she ran off to do just that.

“And it’ll mail like that?” If she had doubts, she didn’t show it, eagerly drawing the square and filling it with hearts.

“Yup. Just as good as any other stamp.”

Dexter watched her as she made the envelope mail-ready, waiting for what felt like an eternity before she finally hopped up and presented it for him.

“Alright kiddo, let’s put it in the mailbox.” He tousled her hair lightly and smiled as they headed out the door.

Dexter’s steps were slow and lazy, while Kai skipped and hopped to the end of the walkway to wait for him. She knew not to go into the road or past the gate, they lived in a semi-safe neighborhood but safety was one thing he made sure to remind her constantly.

With their mother hardly ever home and their father gone, he was the parent. Some Days it was difficult, wrestling her to get ready for school and such. But some days, like today, it was kind of nice. Seeing how excited she was to mail a letter to Santa. It was endearing.

She snatched the envelope to put in the mailbox, though she was still too short to really reach it.

After watching her with a fond smile for a few moments, he stepped up behind her and lifted her up so she could reach. The metal creaked as it was opened, the envelope placed delicately inside before she snapped it shut with a loud clunk.

“Oh! I can’t wait for him to get it, Dex! It’s sooo exciting!” She yelled out as they made their way back to the house, toes cold on the slightly damp ground.

“I’m sure he’s just as excited.” He assured her, getting her inside and sighing a bit.

“What’s for dinner? I’m hungry!” Kai announced as soon as they were inside, bouncing on her heels and looking up at him.

Right. Dinner. He shrugged, heading to the kitchen to see what was even left in there.

“Looks like PB and J sandwiches tonight, Kai.” Since that’s all they had. The bread was stale but no mold so it was fine, and the jelly was a little runny but it’d do.

She nodded happily in agreement, unaware of their borderline poverty state.

He mixed the jelly with the peanut butter so it wouldn’t drip out of the sandwich, trimmed off the crust, and poured the last of the milk for her. There wasn’t enough for him, but it wasn’t the first time he didn’t eat dinner. As long as she was fed and happy, he was good.

Dex got her into bed and read her a story, getting her nice and settled in. He waited a bit until he heard soft snoring coming from her room before he snuck back outside to the mailbox to retrieve the letter.

He quietly brought it back to his room, opening it carefully and reading what was inside. All she wanted was one thing, a single gift. Lots of compliments and ramblings about how much she loved Santa and Christmas, but just the one request. And it wasn’t a cheap one, either. Like Christmases before, the gift getting fell on him. Usually he could get away with knock-offs and cheaper things she asked for, but this one was going to take some time and money. Damn it.

Over the next couple weeks, Dexter did everything he could to get money. He offered to do odd jobs around the neighborhood while Kai was at school, asked the shops if he could do some side work for them, even being a kid himself- teenager, actually, he worked hard. He did the same thing years before, but this time he needed more money and more work.

It took forever to scrounge up enough to get the gift, not counting their regular expenses like food. But, at long last, he had enough.

It was Christmas eve when he was finally able to go pick up the gift, with just enough money in hand and Kai off playing at a friend’s house.

He hurried to the store, getting there just before it closed. He hated doing that to the workers who no doubt wanted to close up and get home to their families already, apologizing as he went to the row of toys to start his search. Even trying to go quick, it was a slow process to find the exact required item, finally snagging it and running to the register.

“That’ll be all?” The cashier asked, her voice missing any holiday cheery after a long day of work.

“Uh yeah, and sorry about this.” He offered the apology and a lopsided smile.

He watched anxiously as the toy was scanned, eagerly handing over the money.

“Sorry kid, you’re a little short here.” She said after a moment, gesturing to the price screen.

$2 short. How? He worked and saved, he got the money-! How could he be short? And there wasn’t time to get a replacement toy, the store was technically closed now and he was the last person going through.

His mind in a panic, he awkwardly shifted from foot to foot trying to think how to deal with this.

“Don’t worry about it,” Another, older lady said. She was the owner, he recognized her, staring up at her soft smiling face.

“Sure thing, boss.” The cashier shrugged, taking what he had and giving him the needed gift.

“Thank you so much! It’s for my sister and I thought I had enough and-” He started to ramble as a kid does, holding the toy tightly to his chest.

“It’s fine son, get home before it gets too much later.” She assured him, walking him out and waving as he ran off.

By the time he got home it was time to go pick up Kai from her friend’s, lingering inside just enough to put the gift under their makeshift Christmas tree before dashing off to get her.

“So, did you have fun?” He asked Kai as they walked back home.

“Yup! We ate lots of food and cookies and played games and I got to paint and we played tag outside and looked at the stars and had more cookies and talked about Santa- their tree is soooo big and full of gifts and it was really cool!” She rattled off, grinning as they went along.

It made him feel bad, guilty. He couldn’t provide a big tree or lots of gifts or even cookies. He barely managed to get her one gift, and that was only thanks to the store owner’s kindness. What a good brother he was.

They got to the house and he let her run in ahead of him, waiting for the gleeful sound of her finding the gift.

“Dex Dex Dex!” She screamed, holding her toy and running circles around the living room.

“What?” He asked like he didn’t know, looking shocked as he spotted her. “Oh wow, Santa came a day early.”

“Oh Dex, I know it was you!” She yelled, grinning as she nearly knocked him over to hug him.

“What? Me? No way, it was all Santa.” He insisted, laughing as he hugged her tightly.

“Dexter, please. I stopped believing in Santa forever ago! I just pretended for you!” She revealed, pushing to topple him over.

As they flopped on the ground, he rolled his eyes and squeezed her, “You’re such a brat, you know?”

“Yea but I’m your brat!” She giggled, looking up at him, “You’re the bestest big brother ever!”

He felt it deep in his core, a warmth at knowing he was doing okay by her with this whole being a parental figure thing. He sat up and messed up her hair again, grinning at her.

“Mele Kalikimaka, Kai.”

“Mele Kalikimaka, brother!”


End file.
